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Crown Castle Inc. stock rises Tuesday, still underperforms marketEditor’s note: A&M’s Chancellor John Sharp’s announcement that he will retire in 2025 is The Eagle’s No. 4 news story of 2024. This is part of a daily series of the top 10 stories in Bryan-College Station and the Brazos Valley this year. Stories will appear daily with No. 1 running in the Dec. 31 edition. Longtime Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp announced on July 1 that he would retire on June 30, 2025. During his 13-plus years as chancellor, Sharp became one of the most transformative figures in A&M history as he was able to take the A&M System to new heights under his leadership by wielding his political prowess to the advantage of his beloved school. Sharp is A&M Class of 1972 and was a member of the Squadron Six “Flying Tigers.” He had no prior experience in higher education, but used his career in Texas politics to his advantage. Sharp said it doesn’t hurt to be a member of “the club.” “I hope I’m remembered as the chancellor that made everybody realize that A&M ain’t nobody’s little brother anymore,” Sharp told The Eagle the day he announced his retirement. “And 14 years ago, we were, and we ain’t anymore. We are the school of choice for this state. Period.” One of Sharp’s original main goals was to land A&M a law school, something A&M leaders had sought for decades. He accomplished that less than a year into the job when A&M spent $25 million to buy operational control of Texas Wesleyan School of Law in Fort Worth. Sharp didn’t stop there, though. The law school purchase only opened the door for him to do more. The epicenter of his work as chancellor has been the RELLIS campus in Bryan. Since Sharp announced the transformation of the campus to become a technology and testing research hub in May 2016, the A&M System and state have invested over $1 billion in various initiatives. RELLIS has now become a hub for academic, government and industry partners to collaborate in applied research for various initiatives. The campus is home to a 5G research testbed, the Bush Combat Development Complex featuring a hypersonic testing site and will soon be home to A&M’s Semiconductor Institute and possibly a modular nuclear reactor. In 2022, the Bryan City Council renamed Texas 47 — the road that leads to RELLIS — as John Sharp Parkway for his efforts at the campus. “It’ll be a national laboratory for the Pentagon or somebody one of these days,” Sharp said of RELLIS. A&M is still in the process of its national search to find Sharp’s successor. Sharp decided to stay on for a year since he still has several irons in the fire and the 2025 state legislative session looming. The lengthy transition period also has allowed a longer runway for regents to find Sharp’s successor. “It’s an understatement to say we have giant boots to fill,” Regent Bill Mahomes said when Sharp retired. “John Sharp is an Aggie icon — bigger than life — and we all are the beneficiaries of his bold leadership. He has made the System smarter, more innovative, and more responsive to the needs of Texans in every corner of the state.”Virginia football's Jonas Sanker, Malachi Fields earn All-ACC honors

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Victor Wembanyama went to a park in New York City and played 1-on-1 with fans on Saturday. He even lost a couple of games. Not in basketball, though. Wemby was playing chess. Before the San Antonio Spurs left New York for a flight to Minnesota, Wembanyama put out the call on social media: “Who wants to meet me at the SW corner of Washington Square park to play chess? Im there,” Wembanyama wrote. It was 9:36 a.m. People began showing up almost immediately. RELATED STORY | NCAA head warns of the dark side of college sports gambling Washington Square Park is a known spot for chess in New York — Bobby Fischer among others have famously played there, and it's been a spot used for multiple movie scenes featuring the game. Wembanyama was there for an hour in the rain, from about 10-11 a.m. He played four games, winning two and losing two before departing to catch the Spurs' flight. Wembanyama had been trying to get somewhere to play chess for the bulk of the team's time in New York — the Spurs played the Knicks on Christmas and won at Brooklyn on Friday night. The schedule never aligned, until Saturday morning. And even with bad weather, he bundled up to make it happen. He posed for photos with a couple of dozen people who showed up, braving a morning of cold rain to play chess with one of the NBA's biggest stars. “We need an NBA players only Chess tournament, proceeds go to the charity of choice of the winner,” he wrote on social media after his chess trip was over. RELATED STORY | LeBron and Bronny James make history as NBA's first father-son duo to play together Wembanyama is averaging 25.2 points and 10.1 rebounds this season, his second in the NBA after winning Rookie of the Year last season.President Joe Biden has been urged to pardon Julian Assange by two US congressmen who warn they are “deeply concerned” the Wikileaks founder’s guilty plea deal sets a precedent for prosecuting journalists and whistleblowers with espionage offences. James McGovern, a progressive Democrat from Massachusetts, and Thomas Massie, a libertarian Republican from Kentucky, wrote to the president with the bipartisan request to pardon the Australian publisher earlier in November. The pair urged Biden to “send a clear message that the US government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs”. Assange was to violating US espionage law, in a deal that allowed him to return home to Australia and brought an end to an extraordinary 14-year legal saga. Assange was charged in connection with the publication of about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, in 2010 and 2011. In a letter dated 1 November McGovern and Massie expressed “appreciation” that the criminal case had been resolved and an extradition request to the United Kingdom dropped, bringing “an end to Mr Assange’s protracted detention and [allowing] him to reunite with his family and return to his home country of Australia”. But the pair said they were “deeply concerned” the deal required Assange, a publisher, to “plead guilty to felony charges”. “Put simply, there is a long-standing and well-grounded concern that section 793 [of the Espionage Act], which criminalizes the obtaining, retaining, or disclosing of sensitive information, could be used against journalists and news organizations engaged in their normal activities, particularly those who cover national security topics.” The pair noted that this risk had “informed the Obama administration’s decision not to prosecute Mr Assange” and that Assange’s case was “the first time the Act has been deployed against a publisher”. They said they share the view of Jodie Ginsberg, the chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who by saying “while we welcome the end of his detention, the US’s pursuit of Assange has set a harmful legal precedent by opening the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers”. McGovern and Massie, who , urged Biden to pardon Assange, arguing “a pardon would remove the precedent set by the plea”. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton and wife Stella Assange are in the Australian capital, Canberra, this week and Shipton is returning to Washington in January as part of urging Biden to take action before he leaves office. The pair have asked the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, who , to call for a pardon in his farewell phone call with Biden. “By granting a pardon to Julian Assange, President Biden can not only correct a grave injustice but also send a powerful message that defending democracy and press freedom remains at the core of his presidency,” a petition for the campaign argues.ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

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OTTAWA — After being blanked 4-0 by host Canada the night before, Finland bounced back with a gritty 3-1 win over Germany during Friday's second day of competition at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa. Emil Pieniniemi, Arttu Alasiurua and Jesse Kiiskinen scored for Finland, which outshot the winless German crew 43-32. Clemens Sager scored for Germany, which lost 10-4 to the defending champion United States on Boxing Day. Finland led 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 heading into the third. Germany's goaltender Linus Vieillard stopped 40 of 42 shots directed at him, while Petteri Rimpinen stopped 31 of 32 shots for Finland. Both teams play their next games Sunday when Finland plays the U.S. and Germany faces Canada. Earlier on Friday, Slovakia bounced back from a 5-2 opening-day loss to Sweden to edge Switzerland 2-1. Jan Chovan's goal with 3:18 left in the third period snapped a 1-1 deadlock and lifted Slovakia to the victory. Daniel Jencko also scored for Slovakia. Eric Schneller scored for winless Switzerland, which lost 5-1 on Thursday to Czechia. Both teams had 29 shots on goal. Both teams play again Sunday when Slovakia faces Czechia and Switzerland plays Sweden. In later games Friday, Sweden will square off with Kazakhstan, while Canada will face Latvia. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2024. The Canadian PressJosh Hoover completed a record-setting season by passing for 252 yards and four touchdowns and TCU defeated Louisiana 34-3 in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday in Albuquerque. Hoover completed 20 of 32 passes and finished the season with 3,949 passing yards, 48 more than Trevone Boykin's previous single-season school record. The Horned Frogs (9-4), who rolled to a 27-0 halftime lead and coasted, won their fourth straight game and for the sixth time in their last seven games. Ben Wooldridge returned from a three-game absence due to a shoulder injury and completed 7 of 20 passes for 61 yards with an interception for the Ragin' Cajuns (10-4), who lost their second consecutive game after a 31-3 defeat to Marshall in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game on Dec. 7 in Lafayette, La. TCU outgained Louisiana 367 yards to 209 and finished with 257 passing yards compared to 95 for the Cajuns. On the Frogs' fourth offensive play of the third quarter, Hoover threw his fourth touchdown pass, a 20-yarder to Blake Nowell that expanded the lead to 34-0 at the end of the period. Louisiana avoided a shutout when Kenneth Almendares kicked a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. TCU received the opening kickoff and, 11 plays later, Hoover threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to DJ Rogers. On the ensuing possession, Wooldridge drove the Cajuns to the Frogs 37, but Almendares' 54-yard field-goal attempt hit the right upright and bounced away. It was just the third missed field goal in 30 attempts this season for the Lou Groza Award winner. Hoover threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Eric McAlister on fourth down to increase the lead to 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. McAlister was Hoover's most frequent target, finishing with eight receptions for 87 yards. Kyle Lemmermann kicked field goals from 45 and 22 yards and Hoover threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to JP Richardson on fourth-and-2 to expand the lead to 27-0 at halftime. --Field Level Media

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